1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic excavator equipped with an air cleaner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a hydraulic excavator is driven by an internal combustion engine installed in the interior of a rotatable superstructure. A fan is attached to the engine and a radiator is disposed in front of the fan. The radiator, into which cooling water is introduced for cooling the engine, is cooled with air. The air for cooling the radiator is introduced into the interior of the rotatable superstructure from the exterior by means of the above fan. The air thus introduced cools the radiator and thereafter passes the engine space where the engine is disposed. The engine space and the space where the radiator is disposed are usually partitioned from each other by both the radiator and a shielding means to prevent hot air from reverse flowing from the engine space into the radiator space.
The air to be used for combustion in the engine carried on the hydraulic excavator is sucked in from an intake port, then is filtered through an air cleaner and is thereafter fed to the engine. The air thus fed is used for the combustion of fuel in the engine and is subsequently discharged to the exterior through a muffler attached to the engine.
The aforesaid air cleaner used in the hydraulic excavator, in view of its purpose of use, has heretofore been disposed in the engine space or in the radiator space in many cases.
However, in the hydraulic excavator called a small-sized swing type, the rotatable superstructure itself is small in comparison with that in other conventional hydraulic excavators and there is no margin in the interior space. Therefore, when the air cleaner is to be disposed in the engine space as in the prior art, it is unavoidable for the air cleaner to be disposed near the muffler or the engine which become high in temperature. As a result, the air cleaner itself is heated and the temperature of intake air to the engine becomes high, thus giving rise to the problem that the engine efficiency is deteriorated.
On the other hand, if the air cleaner is disposed in the radiator space, it is possible to solve the above-mentioned problem of deteriorated engine efficiency which is caused in the case of disposing the air cleaner in the engine space. However, since the air cleaner blocks the passage of air, the air will not pervade the whole of the radiator, thus resulting in deterioration of the radiator cooling efficiency.